To compare district
finances by locale group in Michigan, district revenue is subtotaled into three
categories: local, state and federal. These revenues are compared through
annual per-pupil averages using NCES average daily attendance figures. Total
school district revenues per pupil are also discussed below.

Note that in Michigan, certain revenues, such as those
from sinking fund millages, can be used only for various forms of capital
spending — the construction and refurbishing of school buildings, the
development of technology infrastructure and so forth. These revenues are
included in the figures below, as are revenues more commonly used for operating
purposes, such as teachers’ salaries, administration and transportation.

The only substantial revenues excluded from the
discussion below are those received by schools from the sale of bonds.[*]
These revenues are, however, accounted for anyway, since the revenue from
debt-service millages, which are used to pay back bondholders, are included in
the local revenues and total revenues reviewed below.

[*] Also excluded are “[a]ccrued interest realized from the sale of bonds … when
permitted by state law” and “amounts available from the sale of school property
or compensation for the loss of fixed assets.” “Ed Form 2447,” (National Center
for Education Statistics, 2006), I-6,
http://nces.ed.gov/ ccd/pdf/stfis061aform.pdf (accessed March 2, 2011).